Where Is My Boy Tonight?

Where is my wandering boy tonight—
The boy of my tenderest care,
The boy that was once my joy and light,
The child of my love and prayer?

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O where is my boy tonight?
O where is my boy tonight?
My heart o’erflows, for I love him, he knows;
O where is my boy tonight?

Once he was pure as morning dew,
As he knelt at his mother’s knee;
No face was as bright, no heart more true,
And none was so sweet as he.

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O could I see you now, my boy,
As fair as in olden time,
When prattle and smile made home a joy,
And life was a merry chime!

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Go for my wandering boy tonight;
Go search for him where you will;
But bring him to me with all his blight,
And tell him I love him still.

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Author: Robert Lowry

Year: 1877

This is a well-known 19th-century gospel song written by Baptist pastor and composer Robert Lowry; it was first published in 1877 in the collection 'Gospel Music' (co-edited with William H. Doane). No significant alternate attributions exist.